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Have you immersed your students in nature this year? We would love to help you with your next excursion and have a range of new and existing programs in a variety of subject areas to inspire, engage and enhance the learning of your students. As an added bonus – all visiting teachers will receive 4hrs (BOSTES registered) field work professional learning! Our NSW Environmental Education Centres are all staffed by trained teachers… Read More

Earthkeepers is an old world, mystical ecology program for Stage 2 students and some little munchkins from Boronia Park are now well on their way to becoming Level 1 Earthkeepers after completing our 3 day camp. We were impressed with their energy and enthusiasm and can see that they now have a broader understanding of how humans and natural systems rely on each other. Thanks so much to our parent helpers and… Read More

Our annual “Writers in the Environment Camp” for year 6 writers is into its 25th year and our 2015 students are in camp and busy exercising their creative juices already. We hope to have a few ‘Eco Mystery’ stories ready to publish on this blog by Friday as our young authors try to marry technology (iPads and iBooks) with their creative writing skills. Students are currently engaged in workshops with our Writer… Read More

With great fanfare I would like to announce the inaugural “Schools who follow Brewongle’s blog photo competition”. The prizes will be huge (mmmmm…) and include free posting of your great shots on this blog…. One of my favourite blogs is written by an ex-lecturer of mine Ian Lunt. Last year he ran a competition of before and after ecological restoration photo’s. You can see the entries and winners here. This got me… Read More

Imagine if trees in the Sydney basin were humans and we could age group them into babies, infants, children, teenagers, young adults and so on. What would be the age demographic near you? Here at Brewongle we have some teenagers, young adults and a smattering of adults, but very few grandparents. These thoughts entered my head today via an arborist who gave me pause to consider the different time scale that trees… Read More

We are big on project based and authentic learning here at Brewongle EEC. A new film called “Revolution” that is available to watch online may help spark student driven environmental projects in your school. “Revolution is an exhilarating and hard-hitting full length feature film from award-winning Sharkwater filmmaker Rob Stewart. Not only does it shed light on crucial environmental topics and how we can save the planet, but he shows how past… Read More

Science and Technology are inherently linked. In the case of citizen science, technology has quite literally opened up a world of information. In particular, technology has bridged the divide between little Jimmy Smith in Year 5 and Professor Ignatius D. Pardalote, a global expert conducting research on the intricate feeding patterns of the Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua) in Dry Schlerophyll Woodland Communities in Eastern Australia. This link is beneficial for both parties:… Read More

So you take a feathery local species, like a Tawny Frogmouth, you mix in a crime scene, some suspects, plenty of hands on investigating and SHAZAM, you have yourselves an outdoor, eco-mystery challenge that never fails to grip primary age students. Our Eco Mystery day – ‘The Tawny Tragedy‘ is one of our most engaging programs. Students eyes widen when they arrive at Brewongle to discover a crime scene complete with police… Read More

The term ‘food forest’ conjures up images of an abundant edible landscape similar to the chocolate landscape of Willy Wonka in the movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. I think it is a wonderful term that should inspire us to create ecosystems of food in our schoolyards, backyards and community places. It has ended up in my vocab via a local Permaculture Design Course I am undertaking. Permaculture is an Australian born… Read More

I feel like this is the time of year for a bit of connection to some real things in life! Nothing about Christmas consumerism, busy shops, parties, politics or school reports. Here follows a few cool things I have come across in a pictorial journal from my phone. All mostly extra-curricular…. The Hawkesbury Earthcare Centre’s spring fair was as lovely event filled with sustainability, good food, music and of course our kid… Read More